BY MICHAEL WALLACE
mwallace@MiamiHerald.comThe exodus of Heat free agents continued Friday with guard Eddie Jones ending his second stint with the team and agreeing to a two-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks.

Jones, 35, will earn the Mavericks' $1.83 million biannual veterans exception in the first year of the deal, according to The Dallas Morning News. The 13-year veteran is expected to add depth at shooting guard and small forward.

Jones, a Pompano Beach native who spent six seasons in Miami during two stints, is the second of the Heat's four veteran free agents to leave this summer. Sharp-shooting forward Jason Kapono agreed to a four-year deal with Toronto in July.

Forward James Posey appears a long-shot to return, considering the Heat already has exceeded the $67.9 million luxury-tax threshold and has 15 players under contract.

Re-signing Jones was not an early-summer priority for the Heat, which entered the offseason aiming to address needs at point guard and small forward. Heat president and coach Pat Riley said last month any decision to bring back Jones would be made closer to training camp.

Apparently, Jones was unwilling to wait that long. The three-time All-Star heads to Dallas after turning down the Mavericks in February, when he was bought out of the final year of his contract by Memphis. Jones instead signed with the Heat.

Jones' move to Dallas might have eliminated one of Posey's potential suitors. Posey's agent, Mark Bartelstein, had listed the Mavs, Cavaliers and Wizards among the teams most interested in his client.

Posey met last month with Golden State president Chris Mullin and also had been linked to a potential sign-and-trade deal for restricted free agent Mickael Pietrus.

But because of luxury-tax implications, the Heat is no longer believed to be as willing to push Posey in such deals.

The Heat is interested in Pietrus and is considering trades that involve players under contract.

One deal discussed included the Warriors sending Peitrus and point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius to Miami for point guard Jason Williams.

But it was unclear Friday how willing the Heat is to unload the only experienced point guard in its system, or how much the Warriors are willing to spend $9 million next season on a backup for Baron Davis.

That may be so but it wouldn't be filling a need right now. Getting him would also be difficult and likely involve either the TE (no point doing that even though JWilliams is an expirer) or trading the likes of Harrington or a resigned Pietrus for his 3.4 million and Barnes for around 5 million (to make salaries work), which the Heat may not want anyway.

The best thing is for Mullin to try and get players he actually wants and trying, somehow, to trade away the players he doesn't want. That 10 million TE would be well used while also trying to get rid of Foyle with it. Dificult but should be an aim as getting rid of Foyle's contract would offset losing the TE. Since Foyle is an expirer in next season, he is not much harm to any team.

I actually see Foyle's contract as an asset in the fact that it is an expirer next offseason and expires in two seasons. Mullin could really use the TE now, getting a real good player with it, resign Monta and Biedrins to worthy contracts (like 8-10 million each) next offseason, be over the luxury tax for one season and then Foyle's contract comes off the books and the team is back to being under the luxury tax level. With Jask being an expirer now, Mullin is in a pretty good position salarywise for a while at least, depending on what other contracts he signs

He's a run and gun point guard who played his best basketball in Memphis and Sacramento, when he was able to jet up and down the floor. He's floundered in Miami, where the slow-Shaq pace is slowly killing the guy's career. Don't forget; he's a potential 18 PPG scorer who can drop dimes like nobody's business. He doesn't play any defense, but that didn't stop any other Warriors last year.

It also opens up a number of options. With Jason Williams running the point, Baron Davis can slide over to SG and dominate the scoring column like he did in the beginning of last year (during the Dunleavy "point-forward" fiasco). Baron's post game resurfaces; plus, don't forget the man's one of the premiere passers in the league, so the whole floor opens up. Jason Williams and Baron Davis running the team at the same time?! What a show that'd be!

Plus, when he expires, $9 million a year becomes available for Monta Ellis or Andris Biedrins, meaning we'll have a much easier time resigning the two. AND we only have to give them our trash (aka, Pietrus and Cabbage)???